widespread problem as the next storm moves in. our camera a's were rolling when a large tree branch came down in high winds and heavy rain earlier today in the santa cruz mountains. winds reached 80 miles an hour in some locations. tonight near 117, the calm before the next storm. >> i took a tree off the road out of the parking lot earlier today. >> reporter: in redwood city, a tree came down on a pickup this morning. no one was injured. in san francisco, the fast-falling rain flooded streets and sent water gushing in to storm drains. in san jose the rain was less of a problem but city crews have sandbags ready and checked the 26 storm water pumps to make sure they are working okay and ready to pump out rain water from low-lying areas. >> we are prepaired for it. we have crews on standby and ready to gene we will be there

to respond. >> the weather made driving treacherous. a cargo van spun out and created a chain reaction. >> what is crazy, the speed limit, most people were going over the limit even though there is huge puddles, hydroplaning going on. >> reporter: another van lost control and flipped on its side in san jose. the chp is reminding drivers to slow down, especially when the roads are slick. >> for them, driving really fast on this dangerous road. it's like it is not a big deal. which is for me stupid. you have to slow down. it's your life and you are putting it in danger. >> reporter: you can see the fog is pretty thick at the summit on highway 17. that's another reason to take it slow on the road. that's the name of the game for the next few days. live in the santa cruz mountains, monty francis, nbc bay area news. winds and rain to blame for

power problems in the bay area. in pacifica this morning a home caught on fire when a power line fell on the roof. a neighbor said the homeowner lost a collection of original mark twain books. luckily no one was hurt. this series of storms might be the biggest we have seen in the past 2 1/2 years. >> jeff, how intense will tomorrow be? >> when we talk about intense, stronger with the next storm, the second in a series of storms we mean rainfall. it will produce three to five times the am of rainfall for today. as we head throughout saturday we expect rainfall totals that could go from two to three inches across the north bay. meanwhile, let's look at what we are finding. at the coastline some of our buoys are reading 15 to 30 miles an hour. the strongest wind and rain moved out with the first storm. the second storm is shaping up and the key thing about the next developing storm, it is very

slow movement. that's why we need to monitor the creeks, rivers and streams. we could see one to three inches of rainfall again with five-plus merrill lync inches of rain. we will detail it all coming up in the full forecast. >> we will see you shortly. a lot of viewers are sending storm photos. this from anchor bay in mend seen know county. a tree practically spliced house in half. the girl woke up to find the tree in her bedroom. no one was hurt. if you have a storm photo send us an e-mail at news tips@nbc bay area.com. breaking news from oregon tonight. rescuers are fighting bad weather and darkness as they make their way up mount road to rescue a stranded hiker.

30-year-old jeff kisch got stranded in the whiteout conditions. he called 911 for help. they have been making their way up the mountain a few hours now. he is updating friends through his facebook account. they hope to reach him within the hour. this time of the year it is not uncommon for thieves to steal packages from your porch. here's a way to catch the thieves, bear spray an twitter account. a san francisco woman did just that. we have the story new at 11:00. >> reporter: a group of neighbors here say they have been trying to get a package thief arrested for months. so one victim decided to try to catch the thief using bear spray and the wild plan paid off. u.p.s. drivers are working overtime delivering packages this time of the year. they say a package thief is busy too. >> i have seen them on porches,

on the bike. i followed him personally and called the police while i had them in sight. >> neighbors even snatch snapped pictures of the bicycle bandit hoping police will have enough evidence to make an arrest. >> if you add up the packages just people on this block alone have lost it is quite a number and frustrating. >> reporter: fed up with months of disappearing packages, one neighbor took action on tuesday with a camera and bear spray. they posted video it says is from a home that shows the suspect opening her gate and taking a package. on her twitter feed the woman details how she didn't let him go without a dose of bear spray. i got him with bear spray but he escaped. the same video posted shows her chasing him down the steps. she tweets minutes later she is putting him under citizen's arrest are. police say the suspect had orange bear spray on his face. the 51-year-old is in custody

facing attempted burglary charges. neighbors are relieved the man they dubbed the bicycle bandit is in jail. >> i feel she is pretty brave to have taken that on herself. >> i think taking action is what we, as citizens, is what we need to do. >> he is expected to answer to the charges in court tomorrow. neighbors hope the thief is gone for god. in the meantime, police say they do not encourage citizens to confront criminal suspects. live in san francisco, nbc bay area news. happening now a search is underway in oakland for a 16-year-old girl considered at risk. cheyenne white walked away from a group home last night. she was last seen near 34th avenue. she is considered at risk because she has the mental capacity of a 9 to 12-year-old. anyone with information on her whereabouts is urged to call police. a 15-year-old from san jose is in juvenile hall awaiting his fate. he will stand trial as an adult

for his alleged role in a violent crime spree earlier this month. he was in court earlier today but did not enter a plea. prosecutors say he and johnathon will banks murdered one man and attempted to murder a police officer. the deputy say says both suspects shot and killed rory when they tried to car jack him during their crime spree. >> anyone who is willing to do those things 0 poses a threat and it is quickly to get him off the streets as soon as possible. >> both suspects created four robberies. wilbanks could face the death penalty. as for mull droe, because he is only 15 will not face the death penalty. nbc chopper over head. a truck was carrying demollered cars on 880 when several fael fell off on to the freeway. the truck may have clipped an overpass when it passed by.

you see the backup there, miles after the accident. in fact, two lanes remain closed at this hour on 880 in san leandro. san francisco could see same-sex marriages again. the supreme court is deciding whether to hear argue s concerning proposition 8. the law was deemed unconstitutional by a federal judge two years ago. the ruling has been on hold ever since as the caseworks through the appeals court. if the supreme court declines to hear the case that means the unconstitutional ruling will stand and same sex will once again be legal in california. san francisco city officials are asking the court for 24 hours notice if the ban on same sex is lifted. if the supreme court agrees to hear the case, the ban on same sex would remain in place until a final ruling. back to our series of storms. drenched and drowned. this is a live picture of a san jose neighborhood soaked by heavy rain and now they are racing to get ready for an even

bigger storm around the quarry. after the weather we are dealing with now, the ground is saturated. in a six-however period earlier today we picked up close to two inches of rainfall. that includes loss ail toes and the peninsula. the current problem as temperatures cool off, plenty of fog rolling in to the hills. we will track the storm and have the full time line coming up. armed and dangerous. ahead new video of a jewelry heist in the south bay. police want you to the take a look at it. plus, they are going to other communities, to livermore, walnut creek. >> one east bay city fighting to keep customers in their own town. they get a business boost. >> have a long list of gifts to buy this holiday season? we are here to help with a gift guide. the hottest tech gadgets currently on sale next. music's, ready !

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new details on a jewelry heist in los gatos. police released it yesterday at. it happened at a jewelry shop. two masked gunman burst in the door store. after one minute, the two take off. if you have any information, contact los gatos police. they are not looking to turn it in to a bay area hot spot for night life but to make it more exciting. growing pains in pleasantton as

business owners are pushing the envelope or in this case the clock. we are joined in pleasantton with how the city hopes to give businesses a boost. >> reporter: good evening. here in downtown pleasanton it can be just as quiet on the weekend because a lot of these businesses close at 10:00. last night the council passed a plan that will give them a boost allowing them to stay open later and attract businesses from in and out of town. >> good thing is they will double. >> here at baroney's it is a business of balance. customers and neighbors just yards from the 18-year-old downtown pleasanton restaurant. >> it is a bedroom community. >> reporter: some fought against increasing the hours worried about property value and damage and violence from those who have had too much. >> we will get them arguing

amongst each other. >> he says he is not as bothered as his neighbors but has concerns. >> sometimesly find bottles in my yard and get butts. >> reporter: and he may find more. now the city council has agreed to allow downtown restaurant and bars to stay open an extra hour and serve alcohol until 11:00 without the individualized permitting process it. >> is not a perfect science. you don't satisfy even but i think the proposal is a come good compromise. >> reporter: the owner fought for the change. >> we are surrounded with great corporate corporate business. so if we don't have more restaurants open late at night, we may not be the right draw. >> for businesses or any crowd looking to spend a fun night out. >> they are going to livermore, walnut creek where there's more activity at night time. i think they want to try to get

that feeling here in pleasanton. >> reporter: back here live, alberto's cantina is just wrapping up and is open later on the weekend until midnight because it has a special permit. that is still the case for business if they want those extended hours them city leaders say they are excited about the plan but will revisit it in a year to see if it is working and what, if anything, needs to be changed. downtown pleasanton, nbc news. that time of the year when people scour the malls ante web for that something special. >> if you are looking for the hottest tech products look no further. scott budman has already found them for you. >> reporter: we start with our favorite mix, technology and music. here's a way to take it with you, the jam box from jawbone. it is bigger than ever with more sound and you can play it through your mobile devices starting at $120. a less common place to blast

music, the shower. the moxie shower head from koeller gives you something to jam to while you get clean for 200 bucks. the nike sports watch is the latest way to track your fitness. this comes with gps and lets you track your data on-line. it costs about $150. readers are still selling like hot cakes and there are more than we can show you here. suffice to say if you are new to the e-read aing thing, the nook simple touch is a simple way in. $99. up the tech food chain we have a lot of tablets. the amazon kindle hd and the ipad mini all cool and part of the new wave of computing. a wide price range so do your home work. will these catch on, hybrid tablet laptops a little bit of both from the likes of microsoft

and lenovo. these cost 500 to $600. the smartphone, hot sellers from the samsung galaxy to iphone 5 to a fleet of phones starting around $200. much less expensive but far fewer apps, this is the spare one emergency phone. actually a very practical gift. it will work when storms disable cell towers to let you call 911. the spare one runs about 60 bucks. finally the hottest new game system from nintendo. it is the wii-u. unconventional design but gamers love it. it starts at $300. scott budman, nbc bay area news. >> here's another gift idea, a trip to outer space. the entrepreneur behind paypal,

tesla and space x has bigger dreams. he wants to start a colony on mars. he envisions starting with ten people that get shelter, food and a way to the extract water and welcome up to 80,000 new earthlings. he says it won't happen for a few decades. the price for a ticket $500,000. >> that's it? >> with inflation in a few decades probably a lot more. >> jeff the man of the day. so many questions about all of the storms. >> we have more coming our way. mendte of answers as we head throughout the weather cast and beyond. top wind gusts 82 miles an hour in mount hamilton. los gatos 72. alameda 39. while winds are 15 to 20 miles an hour at the coastline, not too gusty, we are seeing scenes like this. a live shot in to san jose.

our photographer jim foster getting this photo. sure, it's not a 60-foot tree but an example of the ground that is saturated. it got so close to the house. there looks like it has been saved but all is it takes is one tree down and you to be in it. trees are weakened that's something to be concerned about. in san jose you can see the clouds building in. not looking at heavy fog. if you are traveling of the hills, near the coastline be prepared for ground fog developing. the radar is very dry. under a brief break. thankfully, because the ground is so saturated with the trees coming down throughout our latest storm system. here we go again. the storm door is wide open. not only the storm for today but now we are tracking three other systems out in the pacific.

we have two systems merging of sorts. we will save you the details but basically storm two and three will be lining up as we head from thursday in to saturday. here's the thing about this. it will be slow moving. it will linger for almost two days across the bay area. that will help to ramp up flooding concerns and storm system four on the heels of it. that will be arriving as we head throughout sunday. this is when those of you in the north bay should be concerned the most. that's when we could see a 10 to 15-foot rise in water levels to the north bay. let's bring you to the time line. for tomorrow morning, fog to start and widespread cloud cover. the next storm moving in by 6:00 p.m. on thursday. slow to push to the south. eventually the rain in the south and east bay. by friday morning commute. again, friday morning is when the next round of widespread heavier rain will arrive. and estimated totals in to saturday morning from the next round will be three to four inches in to the north bay.

russian river the highest concern will be close to action stage. also flood stage as we head to the upcoming sunday and monday. overall, the snow totals from six to ten edges. not a huge storm expected to come our way. otherwise, upper 40s and low to mid-50s for the temperatures and daytime highs low to mid-60s. on the seven-day forecast, what we will find is the next storm arriving by friday. a chance of thunderstorms on saturday an the next round for sunday. very active as we have been advertising. >> okay. thank you, jeff. >> sure. >> we'll be right back.

in the knew the day would come. barry bonds is on the ballot rekindling debate that may last for years. five other players linked to steroid use are up, including mark mcgwire, sammy sosa and roger clemens. bonds had plenty to say about it in an article posted on mlb.com.

he says, if you believe i'm a drug person than i don't need to be part of this. if you don't want to put me in for those reasons, that's fine. if you want to put me in for what i did as a player i'd love to be with everyone that deserves it. back in a moment with more sports with henry wofford. stay with us.

i put away money. i was 21, so i said, "hmm, i want to retire at 55." and before you know it, i'm 58 years old. time went by very fast. it goes by too, too fast. ♪ but i would do it again in a heartbeat. [ laughs ] ♪ ♪

welcome back. the niners have two guys battling to be the starting quarterback. today the coach decided to blow the whistle. jim harbaugh named colin kaepernick the starting quarterback for sunday. is the controversy over? we have more from santa clara. >> reporter: jim harbaugh stood in front of a hoard of local and national media to explain why he will start a second-year player in st. louis over a eight-year

veteran with playoff experience. >> the rationale is you have two quarterbacks that we feel great about as a starting quarterback. both earned and deserved it. over a long period of time by virtue of the last three games colin has the hot hand. >> he said the decision was not an easy one and praised smith's handling of the situation. >> alex is a class act all the way. that's what we would expect. >> reporter: kaepernick gave smith credit for helping him to prepare to be the starter. >> alex has been great. our relationship hasn't changed. he has helped me a lot. he helped me going through the play book and how we do different things and progresses. he's been a great help to get me where i am right now. >> harbaugh did not rule out the possibility that smith could be back under center again. >> i think there's a possibility. i would assume nothing or rule

out anything. we will know. we will go with colin and alex. they are both our guys. >> any indication that you will be the starter for the rest of the season? >> he didn't tell us that. >> is that torture every week. >> that will be up to him. >> kaepernick said he found out he would be the starting quarterback during wednesday's morn ing practice when harbaugh announced it to the team. we don't know when smith found out he would not be the starter. smith did not talk to the immediate wra on wednesday. he said he would do so on thursday. nbc bay area. >> thank you, mindy. over to the silver and black. orlando mclean says he is no longer a raider. he makes the statement on his facebook page today. he got in to an argue with his head coach dennis allen. he was the eighth overall pick

in the 2010 draft. the raiders say the move is not official but we will keep you update. back to you. a lot going on if football. sunday's game, the niners and rams. i will be glued to the tube watching that to see what colin kaepernick can do. >> it will be pouring rain are. you have nowhere to go. okay, here's the plan.

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year. not quite powerball but a woman from milpitas is the newest millionaire. she took two months to come forward but better late than never. stay with nbc bay area for the coverage of the storms headed our way and we will have live weather and traffic reports. jeff right now has one last look. >> not as bad. we will expect morning fog and throughout the day showers in the north bay. that will push to the south. we will expect heavy rain to return for friday's commute. chance of thunderstorms on saturday and final storm moving in on sunday. that's when river flooding will be at the highest. we will have to monitor those rivers, especially the north bay closely on sunday. >> thank you for the warning. thank you for joining us. we hope to see you tomorrow. >> nied goot. -- good night. some girls wish to grow up to be a princess.

other girls wish to simply grow up. mae and bailey are friends battling kidney cancer at st. jude children's research hospital. we developed a treatment for their cancer that's helping kids like them across america. you know what i wish for? what's that honey? my hair back. and no more cancer. well, girls, st. jude is working on that. go to st. jude dot org or shop where ever you see the st. jude logo.

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>> announcer: it's "the tonight show with jay leno," featuring rickey minor and "the tonight show" band. tonight, jay welcomes -- wanda sykes. blake shelton. and fake spokesperson auditions. and now, jay leno! [ cheers and applause ] captions paid for by nbc-universal television captions by vitac www.vitac.com ♪